Tuesday, August 23, 2016

The John Dewey Society
calls for paper proposals for its panel on Dewey and Philosophy (formerly
called the Past Presidents’ Panel), to be held at its annual meeting, in
conjunction with the American Educational Research Association meeting in San
Antonio, Texas on April 27 – May 1, 2016.

What are the challenges
to a vibrant and healthy democratic life? In an essay late in life, Creative Democracy – The Task Before Us[1],
Dewey calls upon us to not take democratic life for granted. More than a
political institution, Dewey sees democracy as dependent upon family,
friendship, the economy, and other parts of the fabric of civil society. Today
in many countries, institutions of democracy, in particular public schools, are
challenged by growing inequality, mistrust of the other, and poverty. It is a
time to return to Dewey’s text to consider how democratic life can be fostered
amidst these challenges.

The following
topics are based on Dewey’s essay and are meant to prompt ideas about suitable
papers, and not be prescriptive or exhaustive.

·The meaning of democracy as a personal or
individual way of life today

·Democracy and leadership in education

·Democracy and education for peace

·Democracy and the two party system in the
Age of Clinton v. Trump

How
to Submit

Submit
all proposals (prepared per instructions below) for individual papers via email
with an attachment as a Word document. All proposals are due by midnight
Pacific time November 15, 2016, via email to AG Rud, John Dewey Society
president elect, Distinguished Professor, Washington State University, ag.rud@wsu.edu; Any questions - contact AG Rud directly via
email.

Proposals
accepted for presentation in this panel of the John Dewey Society will be
notified by January 15, 2016. Full papers of up to 5000 words (excluding
references done in APA style) will be due no later than April 3, 2017 for the
discussant to prepare remarks.

Proposal
guidelines

Part
1 (submit in the body of your email messagewith the subject line JDS Proposal)

(1.)
Title of your paper and theme your proposal addresses

(2.)
Your name, title, institutional affiliation (if any)

(3.)
Your address, phone, email

(4.)
An abstract of up to 100 words

Part
2 (in an attached Word document with all
identifying information removed for anonymous review)

(1.)
Title of your paper

(2.)
A descriptive summary of your paper (maximum length 1000 words), explaining
your paper and its significance, especially in relation to the selected theme.
List several references to place your contribution in the broader scholarly
conversation.

Founded
in 1935, the purpose of the Society is to foster intelligent inquiry into
problems pertaining to the place and function of education in social change,
and to share, discuss, and disseminate the results of such inquiry.

The Society is also urging its members to read and reflect
on Dewey’s seminal 1935 book Liberalism and Social Action (LW11: 3-66)). Here
Dewey, after critically reviewing the history of liberal thought, makes the case
for a liberalism-infused democratic socialism.

The connection here to a position advanced in the 2016
primary season is not accidental. One useful step in considering ‘the task
before us,’ moreover, would be to review Dewey’s argument in Liberalism and Social
Action in the wake of the 2016 political party primaries.

In Creative Democracy – The Task Before Us Dewey
reminds us that democracy should not be seen as a political machine which once
it is set up would perpetuate its existence automatically. On the contrary, the
very existence and health of our democracies depend on conditions which go
beyond our immediate political institutions and which concern our family
relations, our friendships, our economical organization, etc. In a time where
our democratic institutions seem to be endangered by increasing structural
inequality, globalization, economic crisis and the reemergence of xenophobic
attitudes, we should return to the theoretical resources Dewey has to offer on
these present challenges for our democracies.

Hence,
in the DtG panel 2017 we propose to explore the following questions:

·How are the latest developments in the democratic life of our societies
to be critically assessed? What are the observable tendencies? Are there only
reasons to worry or are there reasons also for hope in the recovery and
deepening of democracy?

·What have been the effects of the financial crash of 2008 for our
democratic institutions and practices? What can we expect from the reforms
brought about by current governments?

·Are there economic alternatives to capitalism (not only classical, but
also in its neoliberal form) which could work as better social foundations for
democratic practice?

·How do global problems
(climate change, wars and conflicts, etc.) affect our democracies? Should we
see these global conditions as obstacles, as opportunities, or both?

The Dewey Through Generations Panel was
established in 2015 to highlight and support emerging Dewey inspired scholars
and practitioners (including but not limited to graduate students) by bringing
them into a dialogue with eminent scholars who reflect the best of Dewey's
philosophical practice. One eminent Dewey scholar participates in a dialogue
(as commentator/respondent) with the emerging scholar panelists. We are pleased
to announce that this year’s Dewey Scholar will be Gregory Pappas (Texas A&M University). For an overview of Dr.
Pappas’ scholarship see:

Graduate students, student-professionals, and emerging
scholars, may submit an abstract for the panel. The panel will include three
papers/or projects (limited to 3000 words) and commentary by an invited Dewey
scholar (limited to 1500 words).

Submit all abstracts (prepared per instructions
below) via email with an attachment as an MSWord document. All proposals should
be received on or before November 15, 2016, by Just Serrano at dtg@johndeweysociety.org.

Submission guidelines: Part 1 (submit in the body
of your email message): (1) Title of your paper; (2) Your name, title/student
status, institutional/professional affiliation (if any); (3) Your address,
phone, and email; Part 2 (attaches as a MSWord document prepared for blind
review): (1) Title of your paper/project; (2) An abstract and/or descriptive
summary of your paper/project, explaining your work and its significance,
especially in relation to the selected themes(s). All abstracts should be
formatted according to Chicago or APA style, with a maximum length of 800 words
excluding the title and references.

Please direct all questions to Just Serrano at justserrano@gmail.com. Abstracts accepted
for presentation on this panel of the John Dewey Society will be notified by January
15, 2017. Final papers will be due April
2, 2017.

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About 'Social Issues'

Social Issues is a blog maintained by the John Dewey Society's Commission on Social Issues.

The Commission exists to encourage reflection on pressing social, cultural and educational issues and to support communications among members of the John Dewey Society and concerned publics on these issues.